AMERICA AND THE RECKONING

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 69, 18 September 1914, Page 6

AMERICA AND THE RECKONING

President Wilson has, by inference, indelibly branded the German tiger. Yesterday one of the most interesting questions of the hour was: What will the high-minded leader of the great American Republic say to the envoys of the little nation who came to him with their tale of broken faith, bloody invasion, illegal warfare j looting, burning, toi-tuxe; and murder and outrage of prieSt, man, woman, and child? Today the words spoken by tho President to the Belgian Mission have encircled the earth, and they reflect a rare, combination of humanity and statesmanship. They contain no aggressive anti-German utterance such as the' American Germanophiles would seize hold of and turn to their own advantage. They conceal their whole point and barb between the lines, but it is so lightly masked that he who vfns may read, 'and they constitute a^more damning indictment of Prussian militarism than any mere denunciation could have encompassed. Moreover, the President's words are so balanced that, without offering any assistance to the Germanophiles, they will search the heart of the great American nation, and may lead to such demonstrations that the promised consideration of Belgium's protest will bear fruit in United States action. Though it was declared at the outset of the war that the American peoplo were realising that a policy of isolation was illsuited to twentieth century civilisation, President Wilson is still bound by the traditional avoidance .of Old World entanglements; and, for the present, it is to "the nations of Europe" that he looks for an assessment of wropgs and of "relative responsibility." But when he rejoices in the agreement of the nations of the world that such a reckoning should be mado, and when ho cites the opinion of mankind as the final arbiter, only one" construction is possible. Inferentially, he has arrived at the only destination at which &. justice-loving and sham-detecting mind could arrive. If further evidence of the Presidential attitude is needed, it is found in the answer to the Kaiser on the Dumdum question. "I do not believe," writes Mr. Wilson to the Warlord, "that your Majesty expects me to say more." If removed from its context, this sentence correctly defines the spirit of the reply to the Belgian Mis* sion. Certainly, the Kaiser will not be anxious to hear any more.